The Irish standard., 1887-05-21
IN DESERTED C0NNEF1ARh.
Investigating the Poverized Condition
of that District and the Horrible
State Of Things Revealed

of that District and the Horrible
State Of Things Revealed.
BEYOND THE ISLES OF ARRAh
Is Bank Which is Stated By Reliable Az,
! thori1ies to Be One Of The Finest Fish
ing Stations en- the Coast.
A special emissary Of the principal
Dublin daily is the author of what fol
lows: Anyone who has taken The troll
Bile to Investigate the condition Of Con.
nemara is aware The resources of that
wild and picturesque region are only
equalled By the poverty OF the i1b;lbi
tants. In the garden Of a miserable
cabin where the people starve from
years. end to years end, is the opening
OF a marble gully from which & fe"
blocks have been calted away to grace
the walls Of a museum, and no more no
tice taken of it, except that the carnarl
who is driving & tourist by points his
whip towards the spot and announces
the fact as q rather curious item Of III
telligence. But the resources Of the
land are as nothing to the wealth which
is known to exist in the sea within a
few miles Of this strange region. SO
far as the Inhabitants are concerned, il
the fish swan in the Polar sea they
could not be OF less advantage TO them.
They have no fishing gear worth me3l-
tioning, while the boats are too small
to allow the mariners to venture out On
the deep sea. It is fact scarcely to be
credited that the cured herring sold in
the shops Of Galway are behring's which
have been caught by Scotch fsherm Ell,
cured in Scotland, and then exported
to Dublin, where they are sold TO the
small dealers in the Provinces. The
evidence given by experts over and over
again before the various royal commits
sions which have listened, deliberaJed
and done nothing, proves that the sea
along the Galway and Donegal coasts
is literally jeeming with fish. For a
long time one Of the things which pre-
vented the deyelopement Of the Usher
les Was the want Of harborS at which
TO land the fish OF where, in stormy
weather, the boats might obtain shell
ter. At Carna, this difficulty will soon
have disappeared The Government
authorities seem to have made up their
minds to try the experiment Of provid-
ing fac1l1les for q great fishing station
at this remote spot, so far as harbor
accommodation is concerned. Within
Il very short period piers have been
built at Kiizerrin, Ardmore, Mason Is
land. Carna and some other places in
the vicinity. Through the exertions of
Father Fiannery, the interchangeable par
ish priest, these works have been car
ried out under such circumstances as
to afford q vast amount Of employment
in place where the people were, as
time has proved, willing and indus
trious, but in g state Of restitution for
the want of some means to earn q SUBJ
sistence. From the representations
which Father Flannery made to the
authorities, they were induced to allow
the system of day work" TO be carried
out; that is, they sent down one Of
their engineers, who employed the men
in the district for the days work and
taught them what they we're required
to do. OF course, a good deai of skilled
labor was requisite, and tradesnen had
to be imported to perform this. The
materials employed were found OH the
spot. Indeed there is enough granite
about the place to build piers for the
entire of Europe. The engineers bear
testimony to the aptitude and industry
Of the people, and to the alacrity with
which they performed whatever work
was allotted to them. A personal ill.,
spection served to prove the accuracy
of the statement, and as / watched
these men at work I could not help
thinking what pity it was that the
vast body of their k1th and kin who have
rendered such yeoman service in the
building of the cities and harbors and
railroads of the western world had not
found scope for their exertions IN their
own land. To see these men at work
under the shadows of their native hills.
and with the sea already tapping against
the granite barrier which they had pro-
tected, irresistibIy brought some such
thought to ones mind. What room for
their labor exists is shown in deserted
Connemara, for want of a convenient
road, the people are forced to drive
their carts twenty-five miles, while the
actual distance across the hills between
the two points is only four miles. AS
mentioned in my former letter, the
Journey between Kilkerrin and Galway
has been, by the construction of five
miles of new road, shortened by no less
a distance than twenty miles. Scores
of such instances abound, and practi-
oo11,7 1ooroe tIo locality in ctato of